Florida Catholic | Fire Damages St. Catherine Of Siena

Fire damages St. Catherine of Siena

ANA RODRIGUEZ-SOTO | FLORIDA CATHOLIC MIAMI BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 03.28.08

St. Catherine of Siena parishioners celebrated Palm Sunday Masses partly in the parish hall section of the church, which was undamaged by the fire the previous Friday.

DANIEL SOÑÉ | FC
St. Catherine of Siena parishioners celebrate Palm Sunday Mass partly in the parish hall section of the church, which was undamaged by fire the previous Friday.

KENDALL | A fire March 14 — the Friday before Palm Sunday — caused an estimated $1 million in damages to St. Catherine of Siena Church in Kendall, but the spirit and devotion of the congregation remained.

After a massive cleanup effort all day and into the night on Saturday, Palm Sunday Masses were celebrated as usual, except that the parish hall served as the sanctuary and the overflow crowd sat in a covered plaza outside.

Two teenagers were arrested March 18 in connection with the fire, which police have determined to be arson.

“It could have been much worse. Thank God nobody was hurt,” said Archbishop John C. Favalora, who visited the parish after celebrating Palm Sunday Mass at St. Mary Cathedral.

“The people were in good spirits. They weren’t down or disappointed. These things happen,” Archbishop Favalora said. “Holy Week is when you deal with the Lord’s sufferings and how he suffers in other people. This is a suffering for the church and they unite that with the sufferings of the Lord.”

The fire started around 5 p.m. in a devotional chapel on the north side of the church, which is at 9200 S.W. 107 Ave., Miami. The chapel houses various images of the Blessed Mother representing the different devotions of the parish’s multicultural community. All of the images and statues — which are often used in outdoor processions — were destroyed except for a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe which hung, ironically, on a wall right above where the fire started. That image was used for the Mater Dolorosa procession on Good Friday.

“The people have shown great solidarity. They have come in a lot of pain because they love their church, and those images were very beloved,” said Rogelio Zelada, a longtime pastoral assistant at the parish.

The parish does not have a permanent church building but a multipurpose structure that is partitioned, with one half used as the sanctuary and the other half as the parish hall.

Only the devotional chapel was destroyed by the fire. A large portion of the roof over the main sanctuary was damaged by the intense heat, smoke and water, and the chandeliers were melted. Two stained-glass windows also were blown out by the heat, but one depicting the parish’s patroness, St. Catherine of Siena, was not damaged.

“County officials have condemned the church space,” said Father Juan Sosa, pastor. “We can’t use it.”

Bob Brown, director of the archdiocese’s building commission, estimated the damage at $1 million or more.

Brown said permanent repairs could take as long as 8 to 10 weeks. The parish had just embarked on a fundraising drive to renovate the building.

“We will be meeting with insurance carriers this coming week and begin the permanent repair as soon as possible,” Brown said.

Father Sosa, in a reflection published here, said he was moved by parishioners’ reaction, their grief at losing their worship space.

But he concluded, “Neither fire nor smoke will separate us from the love of Christ. All of us will experience his risen life at Easter with passion and joy, although quite a bit differently (to say the least) from the ways we intended to do at first.”

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